Kidman

In the movie Bewitched, which opens today, Nicole Kidman plays a perky witch with a flair for early-1960s fashion. She casts spells in fitted cardigans over crisp, collared shirts. She wriggles her nose while wearing cropped jackets, ballet flats and skirts below the knee. But some fashion experts say Kidman will be working another kind of magic outside the theaters. Now that the movie is out, Kidman, a celebrity style-setter, will make women across the United States want to wear similar retro fashions.

SOMETIMES PEOPLE tell me I should go into politics, but I'm not interested. We've got enough boobs in the White House. People would ask about foreign affairs and I'd say, 'What's wrong with American men?' Then they'd ask about global warming and I'd say, 'When my globes get warm, I just take off my sweater!'" This is Dolly Parton, unchangeable at age 62 and still going strong all over the world. Checking in on Dunne Martin, the concierge of the famed Connaught Hotel in London, telephoned Casey Ribicoff last week (she is the widow of Abe Ribicoff, who was Connecticut's most famous governor and senator)

Nicole Kidman scored last week with her testimony before an Australian court, telling of her terror at being chased by lensmen in Sydney. Because Ms. Kidman is a star of some rectitude, wildly popular as a person of ethics and taste, her testimony carried some weight. Then George Clooney, her American heavyweight opposite, talked to Entertainment Weekly about Hollywood paparazzi nearly causing accidents in his neighborhood. He said wisely, "They're not trying to catch me doing something stupid; they're trying to create me doing something stupid."

Nicole Kidman scored last week with her testimony before an Australian court, telling of her terror at being chased by lensmen in Sydney. Because Ms. Kidman is a star of some rectitude, wildly popular as a person of ethics and taste, her testimony carried some weight. Then George Clooney, her American heavyweight opposite, talked to Entertainment Weekly about Hollywood paparazzi nearly causing accidents in his neighborhood. He said wisely, "They're not trying to catch me doing something stupid; they're trying to create me doing something stupid."

CANNES, France -- A glamorous setting. A star in distress. Elements that can make the Cannes Film Festival about everything but film fell into place when Nicole Kidman came to the French Riviera. "Moulin Rouge," the audacious musical she carries as a can-can girl who wants to be an actress, opened the festival, which closes today, and will debut in Baltimore June 1. Kidman's real-life story is now playing in a tabloid near you. Despite personal turmoil, she smiled, smiled, smiled during the movie's three-day barnstorming here.

Finally, a movie where Baltimore gets to play Baltimore -- and starring Nicole Kidman, no less. The Visiting -- formerly known as Invasion -- begins filming here Monday. But a news conference featuring its stars and director was held yesterday in Washington, where other parts of the movie will be filmed -- perhaps it was just too much to ask the national press to schlep all the way to the other end of the parkway. Still, after Baltimore's recent history of standing in for other cities (in XXX: State of the Union, it played Washington; in Major League II, it subbed for Cleveland)

By Chris Kaltenbach and By Chris Kaltenbach,Sun Movie Critic | January 12, 2003

For all the attention it's been getting, you'd think Nicole Kidman's nose was the star of The Hours, the much-acclaimed film, opening next week in Baltimore, about three women whose lives are affected by the works of author Virginia Woolf. To portray Woolf, Kidman sports a fake proboscis that transforms one of Hollywood's most stunning beauties into, well, a frumpy intellectual. As the cover of last week's Entertain-ment Weekly promised: "You Won't Believe Your Eyes." That's true enough; the woman gazing out dourly from movie posters for The Hours bears little resemblance to the star of Moulin Rouge and Eyes Wide Shut.

Winning the rights to produce the area premiere of David Hare's Broadway and West End hit, "The Blue Room," is a bit of a coup for the Spotlighters, where the show opens tomorrow. An updated adaptation of "La Ronde," Arthur Schnitzler's turn-of-the-century exploration of sexual liaisons, the play was originally performed by only two actors -- Nicole Kidman and Iain Glen (with Kidman's in-the-buff performance dubbed "pure theatrical Viagra" by one British critic). Director Bob Russell has cast 10 actors in the Spotlighters production, which will also include nudity and is intended for mature audiences.

Paul McCartney and his second wife, Heather Mills McCartney, said yesterday they are separating after nearly four years of marriage, blaming intrusion from the media and insisting their split is amicable. Rumors of a rift between Mills McCartney and the singer's children - especially Stella McCartney - have circulated for years. Talk centered on the idea that Mills McCartney - who is nearly half his age - wanted to devote more time to campaigning against land mines and fur. McCartney, 63, and Mills, 38, married in June 2002, four years after his former wife, Linda McCartney, died of breast cancer.

While mega-star Nicole Kidman continues to enjoy a Maryland autumn from a slightly secluded rented house on Boyce Avenue in Ruxton, reported sightings of the ex-Mrs. Tom Cruise continue to swirl throughout North Baltimore. She has been seen at the Merritt Athletic Club working out, dining on sushi in Towson, and now in Graul's Market in Ruxton. There hasn't been such a celebrity buzz in the upscale community since the early 1990s, when actor Ned Beatty, in town to reprise his role of Stanley Bolander on Homicide: Life on the Street, rented a house on Berwick Road.

The muscular send-off for the movie holiday season was the soulless technological breakthrough Beowulf, whose computerized "performance-capture" technique wrapped its actors in the digital equivalent of cheese-cloth. That's actually a splendid irony, for the winter holidays' cinematic strong suit is sure to be the flesh-and-blood performances of America's always-expanding pool of acting talent. In Enchanted, Amy Adams leaps from being an independent-film darling to the sparkling centerpiece of a Disney super-production.

ARE YOU, like, the queen of Australia?" "No, Cate Blanchett is, I'll be lady-in-waiting." That was the exchange between Newsweek magazine and one of our favorite stars, Nicole Kidman. Nicole is gracious, and though she is probably sincere, she is nobody's lady-in-waiting. This beauty continues on a tightrope, career-wise. She takes chances and works where the inspiration, the interesting directors and the fascinating scripts are. Her latest, Margot at the Wedding, has its flaws, but Nicole gives herself over to a characterization that is relentless and unredeemed in sour spitefulness.

Paul McCartney and his second wife, Heather Mills McCartney, said yesterday they are separating after nearly four years of marriage, blaming intrusion from the media and insisting their split is amicable. Rumors of a rift between Mills McCartney and the singer's children - especially Stella McCartney - have circulated for years. Talk centered on the idea that Mills McCartney - who is nearly half his age - wanted to devote more time to campaigning against land mines and fur. McCartney, 63, and Mills, 38, married in June 2002, four years after his former wife, Linda McCartney, died of breast cancer.

While mega-star Nicole Kidman continues to enjoy a Maryland autumn from a slightly secluded rented house on Boyce Avenue in Ruxton, reported sightings of the ex-Mrs. Tom Cruise continue to swirl throughout North Baltimore. She has been seen at the Merritt Athletic Club working out, dining on sushi in Towson, and now in Graul's Market in Ruxton. There hasn't been such a celebrity buzz in the upscale community since the early 1990s, when actor Ned Beatty, in town to reprise his role of Stanley Bolander on Homicide: Life on the Street, rented a house on Berwick Road.

Martin O'Malley today makes official what we've known forever: He's running for governor. But there could be a surprise in store for us after all. Maybe Hizzoner will announce he's making a bid to run in Iowa instead of Maryland. Consider the slogan on O'Malley's campaign Web site - "Moving Maryland Forward / A Future of Security, Opportunity, and Responsibility." Now consider the mantra of Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack: "Responsibility, Opportunity and Security." Those three little words are "values important to Iowans," Vilsack says on his gubernatorial Web site.

Word that Nicole Kidman was in the house swept through the 13 floors of the B&O Railroad Building yesterday, but actual sightings of the star -- in town to film The Visiting -- were rare. "I saw somebody who resembled her," said a woman who answered the phone at Evans Reporting Service, on the building's ninth floor. "But until you get close you can't really be sure." Several people who work in the building said The Visiting was filming on the ninth floor. Outside the building, at Charles and Baltimore streets downtown, three tractor-trailers filled with ladders, tables and other equipment idled on the street.

SOMETIMES PEOPLE tell me I should go into politics, but I'm not interested. We've got enough boobs in the White House. People would ask about foreign affairs and I'd say, 'What's wrong with American men?' Then they'd ask about global warming and I'd say, 'When my globes get warm, I just take off my sweater!'" This is Dolly Parton, unchangeable at age 62 and still going strong all over the world. Checking in on Dunne Martin, the concierge of the famed Connaught Hotel in London, telephoned Casey Ribicoff last week (she is the widow of Abe Ribicoff, who was Connecticut's most famous governor and senator)

Touchstone reportedly delayed the release of ''Billy Bathgate'' because of dissatisfaction with the ending of the film, one that was said to have been ''fixed.''What they did was go back to the original ending, and it is good they did. It works. So do the last 40 minutes of the film. It's the first hour that poses problems.For that much time, the new film is twitchy. Based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow, the movie has excellent decor and admirable texture, but it seems disjointed. For too long, it is a film that works very hard to find its core and doesn't do that until the plot focuses on the title character and the woman with whom he becomes involved.

Finally, a movie where Baltimore gets to play Baltimore -- and starring Nicole Kidman, no less. The Visiting -- formerly known as Invasion -- begins filming here Monday. But a news conference featuring its stars and director was held yesterday in Washington, where other parts of the movie will be filmed -- perhaps it was just too much to ask the national press to schlep all the way to the other end of the parkway. Still, after Baltimore's recent history of standing in for other cities (in XXX: State of the Union, it played Washington; in Major League II, it subbed for Cleveland)

In terms of sheer movie queen glam, the likes of Nicole Kidman haven't been seen in Charm City in decades. So it's all the more notable that the statuesque Australian beauty will star in Invasion, which is scheduled to shoot here this fall. That's not to say that Bawlamer hasn't seen its share of stars in the past. Geena Davis spent considerable film time here in 1988 for The Accidental Tourist based on the book written by Baltimore novelist Anne Tyler, as did Meg Ryan in 1993 for Sleepless in Seattle.